Think Humanity received $10,000 from Americans for Philanthropy to provide mosquito nets

By Jessica Benes Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
04/09/2013 02:18:14 PM MDT

Think Humanity Inc. is not just about buying bed nets for refugees in Uganda or building a well for a village. Those things are part, but not all of its mission.

Think Humanity is about developing health care, education, clean water and socio-economics in Uganda, and about having the Ugandan people be part of the process.

The Loveland-based nonprofit organization was recently awarded a grant for $10,000 from Americans for Philanthropy to distribute 1,200 insecticide-treated bed nets to refugees in the Kyangwali refugee camp and to build a well in Buhimba village.

The bed nets are invaluable since mosquitoes in Uganda are a major cause of malaria.

The nonprofit was started several years ago by Beth Heckel and her family after Heckel's daughter, Aimee, traveled to Uganda in 2007 to write about refugees who fled violent areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Four organization directors -- who were all born in refugee camps in Uganda -- run the branches of Think Humanity in-country.

A clinic outside a camp in Kyangwali is set up to treat people for malaria and typhoid, and educates the locals about sexually transmitted infections, family planning and malaria.

"Some of the questions they would ask and things they don't know is shocking," Heckel said. "One kid asked, 'Is there anything you can do when tested so that STIs come up negative instead of positive?'"

In a girls' hostel, when asked what happens when you get a sexually transmitted infection, the young ladies said, "You become orphans." Or during rainy season, some thought that malaria was a result of eating beans, rather than from mosquito bites.

"It's a lack of knowledge," Heckel said. "It's so important to educate them so they have more knowledge on what causes these problems." She said that many villagers still believe in witchcraft and witch doctor traditional medicines like releasing the pain through animal bones and puncture wounds.

Think Humanity partners with United States organizations to provide birthing kits, eyeglasses and vitamins to the clinic. But the in-country directors are also encouraged to think of solutions to help their people.

It's their community, their society. We can't just throw money at them," Heckel said. "If they can partner with organizations there, it's better." She said that Think Humanity helps empower the people to find their own solutions by working with them.

The Think Humanity board started a girls' hostel in the capital city of Hoima at the beginning of 2012 that educates 30 girls beyond primary school. Many refugee children fail to continue education because of their circumstances, Heckel said. A matron, or surrogate mother, cares for the children. The girls walk to public school and do their own laundry, help cook and study in the evenings.

The bed nets were distributed at Easter to families in the Kyangwali refugee camp.

For details about how to get involved with Think Humanity Inc., visit thinkhumanity.org.

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